TANK

It was a quiet morning at our house, no real plans, it seemed. Oh Mom was running around getting ready for something (as usual). Me and Dad were just sitting on the couch. I kept giving him the “want to play?” nudge but he wasn’t really going for it.

My head perched, as always, on the arm of the couch, peeking through the window, looking for some friend. I spot the shimmer of sun off of a car pulling in. Mom lets me out. It’s Molly! She works at my moms office and she LOVES me. She always pets me and throws the ball when she comes over. We like to chill. Maybe SHE wants to play. Oh Yeah! First thing she does is throw the ball for me!

She talks to my dad, grabs my favorite blanket and the next thing you know she has my blanket all sprawled out over the seat and she wants to take ME for a RIDE! Are you kidding me? She even lets me bring my muddy ball in the car AND sit shotgun! With the window open! That Molly, she’s something.

I jump in quickly, kind of hoping my dad won’t get his feelings hurt. Molly drives down a dirt road my dad must not know about! We stop in the middle of all kinds of cool stuff… There’s water everywhere and birds rush off to escape my playful romp. (I’ve never caught one but I DO love to try!) Now Molly throws the ball, boy can Molly throw. I splash through the mud to capture my favorite prey. With my eyes set tightly on the ball, I don’t see the creek in my path. My right paw goes south fast! Dropping me and rolling me like a fish in the sand. Molly rushes to my rescue as it took me a moment to figure out which way was up.

She was laughing so hard, I could hardly hear her reminding me to get the ball. Oh yeah. I get it fast and descend over the creek like the champion jumper that I am. She threw and I jumped for hours. Wow, that was fun.

We sit for a minute then jump back in the car, mud and all! She wasn’t even upset about me being muddy and wet in the car. I wondered where we were heading as I laid my head on the arm rest. I was nodding off, right there in the car, recalling man that girl can throw the ball.

I wake up as the car shuts off and I follow Molly into what turns out to be her house. She lays out a blanket for me on her couch (For a minute, I wonder if my dad’s worried I’m gone but then suddenly I’m asleep).

I wake up to Molly saying, “Time to go.” We hop in the car, maybe we’re going to see my dad. Nope. I hop out and a whole batch of kids I don’t even know come running over and pet me. They took me in the backyard and fed me every treat that party had to offer. I even got a party hat.

Late night took us back to Molly’s and I WAS BEAT. I jumped into my seemingly usual spot and fell asleep hard. I hope they told her I sleep on the bed.

When we woke up I felt a little bad about my dad so Molly put me in the car. She drove back out to the meadow and I was so excited I sort of forgot about Dad again. I was having fun trying to keep up with Molly and pretty much sleeping the rest of the time. About four days in a row she took me to the meadow and I got some REALLY GOOD SLEEP.

Right about the time me and Molly finally get a minute to chill, Molly’s phone rings. I can hear my mom’s voice and Molly saying, “I’ll bring him over.” Boy, I hope my dad’s not mad. I think I’ve really stayed gone way too long.

We get to my house and there’s my dad packing his suitcases into the house. Hey, wait a minute, did THEY leave ME? No, I remember getting in Molly’s car. They never dropped me off anywhere.

Well, I guess if they did leave me, they picked a pretty good way to do it. Oh, and if you want to see me jump the creek

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About The Author

Raised in Concord, CA, Eileen found her home in Westwood, CA in the late 1970's where life included 18 years of heating only with a wood stove, lots of deep snows, cooking on a wood stove and plenty of homemade recipes to save money and feed well two growing boys and husband, a hard working timber faller. Their little family lived life as an adventure. Eileen learned how to make do and in fact, make things pretty nice around the house in the tiny town surrounded by lakes and streams. Her life long desire to write has turned into her dream job after a long career in newspaper and radio.

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